To the community of St John Paul II College,

This Sunday, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Christ the King. This is the last Sunday of the Church year with next Sunday, 27 November – the first day of the Church Calendar and the First Sunday of Advent.

The feast of Christ the King is celebrated to honour Jesus as lord over all of creation. The Kingdom of God is the central teaching of Jesus throughout the Gospels and the word Kingdom appears more than any other word throughout the four Gospels. Jesus also starts His public ministry by preaching the kingdom:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.”

(Mark 1:14)

Pope Benedict XVI provided this reflection:

But in what does this “power” of Jesus Christ the King consist? It is not the power of the kings or the great people of this world; it is the divine power to give eternal life, to liberate from evil, to defeat the dominion of death. It is the power of Love that can draw good from evil, that can melt a hardened heart, bring peace amid the harshest conflict and kindle hope in the thickest darkness. This Kingdom of Grace is never imposed and always respects our freedom….. Choosing Christ does not guarantee success according to the world’s criteria but assures the peace and joy that he alone can give us.

(Pope Benedict XVI, on the feast of Christ the King, Nov. 22, 2009)

Semester 2 Exams

This week has seen the conclusion of the Semester Two Exams for our Year 10, 11 and 12 students. We congratulate the effort that students have put in to preparing themselves for these and thank staff who have been extremely busy marking and finalising reporting data working to short deadlines.

Building Resilience Workshop 

On Wednesday evening, our College counsellors Ms Ame Uidam and Mr Mac Mackenzie delivered our final Wellbeing Workshop for 2022. This was focused on building resilience and how parents and carers can work to develop resilience for the benefit of young people. As always, the information presented was well researched and provided many practical examples. We are extremely fortunate to have such dedicated people in our school with a clear and sustained focus on supporting our students.

JPC Band Extravaganza

A reminder that next Wednesday we have the "JPC Band Extravaganza" and we would love to see as many JPC families & friends come along. Included in this newsletter is a flyer that contains all of the details for this community event.

2022 Enrichment Program

Next week we commence our Enrichment Program for Students in Years 7-10. The program is not only an opportunity for students to be engaged in meaningful activities but also to enable them to experience curriculum areas in a much broader context. Staff have been planning fun, team-based activities which are designed to encourage creative and critical thinking. The program will include a full day devoted to each subject area as well as dedicated Wellbeing Day(s) for each year level.

Jacob Knowles
Assistant Principal – Development
Drexel and Mathieu House

Georgia Ritchie debuts for Junior Matildas

A big congratulations to Year 9 student, Georgia Ritchie, Van Thuan who at the age of just 14, has over the last few weeks made her junior national team debut for the Junior Matildas against South Korea on the Gold Coast.

Georgia was of course a star player for our JPC Bill Turner Trophy team in our run to the Quarter Finals nationally this year, having also had a breakout season with Canberra United Academy.

Keep thriving Georgia!

Bill Turner Trophy Coach
Teacher

JPC Careers Updates

As the year is approaching the end, I would like to thank and congratulate the staff and students for their achievements in the Careers and VET space.

• Congratulations to our Y10, 11 and 12 Hospitality students. Most of these students will be receiving a Certificate I or Certificate II in Hospitality. They have been led by Mr Charter who has spent many hours working with the students to achieve these competencies.
• Congratulations to many staff members who on top of their teaching load, have or are completing upgraded VET qualifications, in order to be able to offer these courses to JPC students in future.
• Congratulations to the 30+ Y9-12 students who undertook work experience as part of their schooling this year! It has been great to allow this to happen after many restrictions over the last two years. Thank you as always to Mrs Bramham who tirelessly ensures all of the administration is approved and communicated.
• Congratulations to Deacon Palombi and Tilly Bean (Y12 students) who alongside their studies, completed an ASBA this year! Tilly is working towards a Cert III Individual Support and Deacon is completing a Cert III Carpentry.
• Congratulations to the 80+ students who completed either their White Card/Asbestos courses and the Responsible Service of Alcohol courses. These will be offered again next year to JPC students.

I will be taking maternity leave from the end of this week and would like to introduce Mr James Gutteridge as the acting Leader of Learning (Careers/VET) for the rest of this term and into 2023. If you have any careers-related questions, you can email careers.jpc@cg.catholic.edu.au.

Don’t forget we have an amazing careers website and social pages.

Work experience review – Jessica O’Connor – Kaleen Primary School

I want to undertake work experience, to give me the opportunity to figure out what sort of job I would like to do in the future. I enjoyed helping little kids work, helping a boy read ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt', meeting different people and seeing how different teachers teach.

For the lower grades, the teachers were more direct in explaining activities. The upper grades got a little bit more independence in what they do and how they worked. The teachers were great at explaining the tasks to the students. They also gave me the opportunity to help some students with their work.

The experience made me think of future career ideas and is one of my options for when I am older.

School leavers – Childcare Traineeship Opportunity

Ms Teena Zorzi

Are you Leaving JPC at the end of 2022? 

This is a friendly reminder that Term 4 school fees are due for payment Friday 11 November 2022.

If you haven’t already done so we would appreciate it if you could please settle any outstanding fees.

REMINDER - no further Direct Debits and Bpoint payments will be processed from 2 December 2022.

All families are to set up Bpay payments.

Thank you

ENROLLMENTS FOR 2023 NOW OPEN!!!

Ever wondered about learning to play a musical instrument??

Here are some great reasons why you should sign up!!

Parish Newsletter

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